Hopper-bottom dump-car.



H. ZAHL.

HOPPER BOTTOM DUMP GAB.

APPLICATION FILED D160. 6, 1913.

Patented May 19, 1914.

IN VENTOR CgTNESSES COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH Cb.,\vAs1-11 0T0N, n. c.

' era HJALMAB ZAI-IL, 0F DULUTH, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALE TOCHARLES S. 'OLEEQN, OF DULUTH, MINNEISQTA,

HOPPER-BOTTOM DUMP-GAR To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HJALMAR ZAHL, a citizen of the United Stat-es,residing at Duluth, in the county of St. Louis and State of Minnesota,have invented certain new and useful improvements in Hopper BottomDump-Cars, of which the following is a specification, reference beinghad therein to the accompanying drawing.

My invention relates to improvements in hopper-bottom dump cars.

The object of my invention is to provide means whereby my improveddumping d vice may be readily applied to a form of hopper cars now incommon use.

Another object of my invention is to provide a hopperbottom dump carwhereby the discharging members of the car is more readily operated and,at the same time, materially increasing the carrying capacity of thecar, and rendering the action of discharging absolutely positive.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a simple, cheap andeffective car of this character having certain details of structure andcombination of parts hereinafter more fully pointed out.

in the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification: Figure1 is a side elevation of a car equipped with my improved hopper anddischarging means. Fig. 2 is a central cross sectional view of the sameshowing one side door open and one closed. Fig. 3 is a cross sectionview through the center girder of the car showing the hopper-doorcontrolling mechanism. Fig. 4. is a longitudinal vertical sectional viewof the actuating pawl crank, and; Fig. 5 is a front elevation of theactuating pawl.

The car illustrated is composed of fabri cated metal constructionmounted upon two trucks of four wheels each as is customary and carrieswithin the superstructure thereof the hopper shaped receptaclecomprising the side walls 1 and E2 and end walls 3 and 4, the truncatedapex of which terminates intermediate the four innermost wheels of thetwo sets of trucks. My modification of such car hopper resides in thefact that the lowermost approximately half of each side wall 1 and 2 ishinged to swing laterally and divided into thr e sections 5, 6 and 7 andthe extreme lowermost portion of the end walls 3 and t are made somewhatwider than the :1 ea necessary to make a tight receptacle Specificationof Letters Patent.

Application filed December 6, 1913.

Patented May 19, 1914.

Serial No. 805,058.

when the side walls or hinged doors are closed indicated at 8 Fig. 2,this extra width being to prevent spewing of the discharging materialwhen the side doors are open. The swinging doors 5, 6 and 7 at each sideof the car are pivotally hinged at their upper edges to the fixedportion of the side walls 1 and 2 by means of suitable butts 9, therebeing a pair of each such to each section of the door. The centralsection 6 of the swinging door is formed with the outwardly extendingobtuse angle 10 therein about midway its height, this angle being forthe purpose of providing greater carrying capacity for the hopper of thecar and also means whereby greater lateral relief is provided for theburden within the receptacle when the doors are opened, thus aifordingthe greatest relief possible to the 'centermost portion of the loadwhich invariably is the hardest compact portion.

A further object of the outwardly projecting angle of these doors is toprovide means whereby they engage, when open, the side girders or angles11 of the car and when their lowermost free ends are still within theconfines of the rails of the track upon which the car is mounted, thatthe load be discharged within such confines as is essential. Again thisoutward angle admits of the doors being suddenly dropped against theside girders 11 to produce vibration throughout the carto assist inloosening any portion of the load which otherwise might tend to stickwithin the car, and for which purpose I have designed the speciallyconstructed door operating mechanism hereinafter more fully describedand which differs materially from that illustrated in my formerapplication upon a similar device.

The doors 66 are operated back and forth in unison by means of chainsl2-l2, one attached to each edge of the lowermost free end of each doorand leading to suitable drums 1313 mounted upon and actuated by theshaft lt ournaled within the longitudinal box-girder composed of thechannel bars 15 and 16 and which girder comprises the principalstrengthening member of the car and preferably extends the entire lengththereof.

A baiiie plate 17 is fixed to the inner wall of each edge of the doors 6forming an end wall thereto and the inner edge of which is designed toimpinge the outer edge surface of each of the doors 5 and 7 when theformer is closed and thus hold the latter in place as shown upon theleft side in Fig. 2, while upon the right side of the same figure isillustrated the door 6 as being open in which case the side wings ordoors 5 and 7 are free to rest upon the flanges of the innermost wheelsof the car and while the door 6 swings entirely free of them.

It is evident that were the sections 5, 6 and 7 all combined integrally,the amplitude of the discharge opening of the hopper would be confinedto the limits of the wheels, while dividing them as illustrated admitsof the center section swinging intermediate the wheels and free of thewing sections and thus materially increase the discharge opening andresults in other essential benefits as are obvious.

Outside, and at one end of the burden hopper is a shaft 18 extendingtransverse the car and suitably revolublymounted within the framethereof and upon the center girder, the ends of the shaft extendingslightly beyond the limits of the sides of the car as to convenientlyreceive a suitable hand crank 19 by which the shaft 18 is manuallyactuated.

A bell-crank lever 20 is mounted upon the shaft 18 directly over thecentral box girder and carries within its free end the depending ratchetpawl 21, this latter being suspended within the bell-crank by means isoof a ball and socket joint 22 to provide for universal movement of thepawl, the necessity of which is evident as the click 23 of the pawl 21engages the ratchet wheel 24 and imparts revolving motion thereto whenthe pawl is reciprocated.

l/Vithin the body portion of the pawl 21 is formed a rectangularelongated aperture 25 through which loosely protrudes the handle 26 ofthe stop pawl 27 which handle is formed as an integral part of the pawl27, the latter being pivotally supported upon a bracket 28 attached tothe inner wall of the channel 15 and so arranged to freely engage theratchet wheel 24 and when in such engagement to effectually retard anybackward or unwinding motion of the ratch 24: which similarly affectsthe shaft 1a and drum lid-13.

From the foregoing it is evident that when the pawl 21 is raised to theupward limit of its stroke by the revolving of the shaft 18, the lowerend Wall of the aperture 25 will engage and carry upward with it thehandle 26 of the pawl 27 and thus raise the latter from engagement withthe ratch 24: which will admit of the shaft 14 being freely actuated bythe action of the doors 66 through the medium of the chains 12 actingupon the drums l3-13, all of the 6 chains being wound about the drumsfrom the same side as clearly illustrated in Fig. 8. This free action ofthe doors 66 will permit them to drop open outwardly against the sidegirders 11 of the car and produce the before described vibration whichwill assist in discharging the contents of the car hopper and at thesame time the wing doors 5-7 will fall open to the limits of the wheelsof the car as above described and as illustrated upon the right side ofFig. 2. If it is found that the discharge does not freely take place,the doors may be drawn closed and again suddenly released to produce afurther vibration of the car.

The closing of the doors by the winding up of the chains upon the drums1313 is accomplished in a similar manner as the opening thereof,respecting the shaft 18, except that the oscillatory motion of saidshaft by the crank 19 is of much shorter stroke and repeated until theshaft 14 is sufficiently revolved to bring the doors fully closed. Inthis latter case, it will be seen that as the pawl 21 engages theratchet 241: and is forced downward, thereby revolving the ratch, thepawl 27 is free to engage the ratch also and will constantly hold allmotion imparted to the ratchet, thus a continued short reciprocatingmotion of the pawl 21 will result in the winding up of the chains 12upon the drums 13-13 and closing of the doors, while as before stated, amore extreme upward motion of the pawl 21 will result in simultaneouslyreleasing the pawl 27 which entirely frees the ratch to be actuated bythe weight of the doors.

I have illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings an impossible condition ofthe doors when my device is intact, that is of one door being closed andthe other being open for in operation they work simultaneously as isclearly evident, and the position in the illus tration is simply forcomparison.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a hopper car, of an opening upon either side ofthe hopper in the car, each opening having three swinging doors, thecentermost door being directly operated by means carried by the car andthe side doors being indirectly operated thereby.

2. The combination with a hopper car, of openings within either side ofthe lowermost portion of the hopper of the car, a plurality of swingingdoors covering each opening, means carried by the doors for engaging thecar body, and means for releasing the said doors, whereby the car isvibrated to assist in discharging the contents of the hopper.

3. The combination with a hopper car, of doors controlling the openingwithin the hopper, a shaft carried by the car outside of the hopper andmeans whereby a maximum oscillatory motion of the shaft will open thedoors of the hopper and a lesser oscillatory motion of the shaft willclose the doors of the hopper.

4;. The combination with a hopper car, of an opening upon either side ofthe hopper each opening having three swinging doors, the center doorbeing directly operated and the side doors being indirectly operated.

5. The combination with a hopper car of openings within either side ofthe lowermost portion of the hopper, a plurality of swinging doorscovering each opening, and means carried by the car for operating one ofthe doors independently of the other doors, all of the said doorsadapted to engage the car body for the purpose described.

6. The combination with a hopper car, of doors controlling the openingwithin the hopper, a shaft carried by the car, and means operated by thesaid shaft for both supporting and releasing the said doors all in onecontinuous operation.

7. The combination with a hopper, of doors, said doors controlling theopening within the hopper, an oscillating shaft for closing the doors,and means whereby a maximum rotation of the shaft releases the doors.

8. The combination with a hopper car, of openings within either side ofthe lowermost portion of the car, a plurality of swinging doors coveringeach opening, cables connected to the doors, combined means for swingingthe said cables for closing the doors, and also for releasing the doors.

9. The combination with a hopper car, of openings within either side ofthe lower end of the car, a plurality of swinging doors covering saidopenings, a shaft and a winding drum carried by the shaft chainsconnected to the door and passing around said drum, a wheel carried bysaid shaft and having ratchet teeth thereon, a pawl engaging saidratchet and adapted to rotate the drum shaft a second pawl normallyengaging the ratchet and means operated by the first-mentioned pawl forreleasing the lastanentionel pawl substantially as shown and described.

10. The combination with a hopper car of openings within the lower endof the car, a plurality of swinging doors covering each opening, ashaft, a drum mounted on the shaft chains connected to the swingingdoors and passing around the said drum, a ratchet carried by the shaft,an oscillating shaft above the drum, a pawl connected to the oscillatingshaft and engaging the ratchet, a second pawl engaging the ratchet andhaving an outwardly extending handle passing through the first-mentionedpawl whereby an abnormal upward movement of the firstmentioned pawlreleases the second-mentioned pawl for releasing the door-holdingchains.

11. The combination with a hopper of openings within either side of thelower end of the car, a plurality of swinging doors covering eachopening, a shaft a drum carried by the shaft, chains connected to theswinging doors and passing around the drum from the same side, a ratchetcarried by the shaft, a secured shaft carried by the car above the drum,a pawl having a ball and socket connection with the said secured shaftand engaging the ratchet, an arm carried by said ratchet and passingthrough the first-mentioned ratchet whereby an abnormal upward movementof the first-1nentioned ratchet releases the second-mentioned ratchet.

12. The combination with a hopper ear, of openings within either side ofthe lowermost portion of the car, a plurality of swinging doors coveringeach opening, several of the said doors having an outwardly bulgedportion, means for closing the said doors, and for releasing said doors,where by the said bulged portion of the doors may strike the car body.

13. The combination with a hopper car, of openings within either side ofthe lowermost portion of the car, a plurality of swinging doors coveringeach opening, means connected to several of the said doors for closingand opening them, the rest of the doors operated by the aforementioneddoors, the parts arranged as and for the purpose described.

1 1-. The combination with a hopper car, of doors controlled within thehopper, means for operating several of the said doors, baffles mountedon the said operated doors for closing the other doors, the saidoperating doors having outwardly bulged portions, the parts arranged asand for the purpose described.

Tn testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

HJALMAR ZAHL.

Witnesses:

CrrAnLns 3. (Neon, S. GEO. Srnvnns.

l'lopiea of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. U.

